#same for norse stuff

[solradguy]

''There sits Sigurd stained with blood; Fafnir's heart he roasts in the fire. I would call the prince wise and prudent if he himself ate that gleaming heart."

-Poems of the Elder Edda - tl: Patricia Ann Terry

#photopost #my stuff #guilty gear #sol badguy #order sol #finished stuff #If this looks familiar it's because I did the sketch digitally back in October for Soltober #I printed it out then lightboxed it onto a piece of bristol board where I inked it with dip pens #Then scanned it in and did the colors digitally #This has been sitting half-finished for months now. Made myself sit down and put a fork in it today #I like Jackson Crawford's translation of the Poetic Edda a bit more but Terry's is good #If you didn't know: Sigurd eats the heart of a dragon (Fafnir) and gets some cool powers from it #Sigurd is the same guy as Siegfried in the German stories (which don't seem to focus on the dragon stuff as much..?) #I haven't read as many of the German stories though. The Norse stuff's more my domain

[themoonking]

see someone spreading misinformation about ancient greece online, gently correct them, they say "well discerning whats canon and whats fanon in greek mythology is really difficult". i am killed instantly.

#my brother in christ contemporary texts are free online <3 #sometimes by multiple different translators #trying to correct people who believe that in the '''''original myth'''''' persephone just walked to the underworld of her own accord is hel #fyi i was saying hell on earth and ran out of letters #i was not trying to be quirky and reference a completely separate culture's myths i prommy #if i ever use 'hel' in like a casual context instead of when specifically talking about norse mythology i need to be put down #greek mythology #i speak #reminds me of that post that claimed that gorgon heads were used to mark womens shelters in ancient greece w/ no source #and everyone believed it #as if gorgon heads weren't on basically every building #(being hyperbolic obv but. basically) #like i don't get this modern urge to give power and agency to women in mythology by either #(a) pretending nothing bad ever happened to them and everything was of their own volition (bad. stop it.) #or (b) pretending that they have uniquely bad stuff happen to them and no one else had bad stuff happen to them and its only this lady #so therefore everyone else involved is evil (also bad. also stop it.) #like when one of those modern 'feminist retelling' greek myth stories w/ the same covers about ariadne #it actively adds bad stuff to happen to ariadne when shes a mortal woman in greco roman myth who actually gets a happy ending #like whats the point of that??

[allaboutmyths]

I saw a youtube video titled something like "the entire story of Greek mythology explained!!!!" and I nearly burst out laughing

#tag rambles 'cause I need to vent a little #I cannot express how funny this is to me #'cause like -- there is no singular plotline that you can explain like a story #just another example of people treating mythology like any other piece of media #and yeah it makes me mad too but my first response was very much disbelief #myths should not be viewed in the same way we do modern media #I know it can be tempting when we have stuff like Percy Jackson; Marvel's Thor or Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles #(I've tried to read American Gods and never finished which is no fault of the book I just didn't click with it) #(but I HAVE read Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology) #(I trust him a whole hell of a lot more than Rick Riordan to understand the complexities and nuances in myth)

[bardicious]

I do apologize to everyone who followed me for Loki content. I unfortunately don't believe Ill be drawing anymore for content for him. The return of the show (and everyone posting about it) kinda reminded me of that. I'll be taking out the artworks from my shops as well, however, if you want to buy one, you need only request it and Ill put it back up for a short window of time.

Thank you, everyone. ❤️

That said, I'll probably still be making art for norse loki.

#norse loki #loki #anti marvel #anti loki series #art shop stuff #I haven't really engaged with the content - lmao - unless it's been against my will - but I'm obviously still too annoyed at it #same goes for any marvel content #I love cherik but I doubt Ill be drawing for it #and theres the bonus that it was a fox owned movieverse first #sucks to be sure cause wanda resonates with me #maybe Ill change my mind later

[n1ghtm4r3-p01s0n]

After weeks of work, I've finally finished the seven main girlies of Auruvitulum Academy!

I have to give thanks to the members of the Northern Lights Discord server. Several of the characters were possible through discussion with the members of the server. Shout out to J for helping me with the Chinese for Wai-Ling's name and her jacket, to R for discussing King Paimon with me for Paimona, SB for the idea of using modern kimono when I hit a wall with Asami's design, as well as the server giving feedback and encouragement.

Hope you guys like them. ^^

#my art #japanese folklore #chinese folklore #demonology #norse folklore #greek folklore #celtic folklore #egyptian folklore #digital art #digital artist #auruvitulum academy #the reason i'm including the name of the school is cause i plan on doing more art based on the idea #and it'd be really nice to have all my auruvitulum stuff organised under the same tag

[stygicniron]

lordlittlefool asked:

“You were totally going ballistic. It was so cool!” ((from the Miraculous Ladybug Season 1 Starters !!))

Ask Meme: Miraculous ! -- @lordlittlefool

"Yeah. Yeah, that was something," Nico says, hands on his knees as he braces himself, breath coming in short pants.

They'd almost been overwhelmed by a rush of einherjar, the undead warriors appearing one after the other with no end in sight in bursts of blue light. They'd been fighting one on one in the ruined streets of some Vanaheim city and Nico lost contact with the other fighters. And a terror seized his throat, the fear that he would die in a land so far from home, not even in the same world, that he unleashed, letting go on the power that he'd been holding back to pull the dead to himself.

And fortunately, or unfortunately, there was a lot of dead around. Responding to his command, the dead rose from their rest, spirits finding themselves called to fight an all to familiar target, and it helped to have a common enemy. The fight ended quickly after that, the dead repelling the oncoming force as Nico sunk to the ground, the enemy either died or fled.

"How much of it did you see?" he asks curiously.

#lordlittlefool #( god au. ) #☠ ▌ ｆｉｖｅ ｔｈｏｕｓａｎｄ ａｔｔａｃｋ ｐｏｉｎｔｓ ( ask meme reply. ) #defending vanaheim #nico is helping in vanaheim in this bit maybe? #also i know the dead don't quite go to the same place in norse mythology so sort of making stuff up here

[brutal-out-here]

Oh I have a terrible idea

#raineyrambles #this is about the Loki book #something about Ivy going back to her original timeline/one similar to it technically #and then going done the path of crossing paths with certain Norse gods one way or another #I can’t tell which would be worse #her remembering everything or her not remembering anything at all #if the latter id make it to where the readers are constantly reminded of what already happened tho #this looks like something that would take me literally forever to finish #but why am I kinda excited about it lol #but also at the same time I’m going to hmhatw writing eps 4 & 5 aren’t I? #because I’m gonna want to write the insane stuff sooner #my writing #writing #I’m just writing shit as I think of it here

[devotion-between-the-wheat]

finally got around to cleaning o.m nigh.tbringer's 17th chapter, and oh it's giving me thoughts about the si + solomon dynamic again.

#rotating them both in my mind palace or whatever #but yeah there's this thing where in the short term sol can be seen as an optimist whereas the si is often a pessimist in short term #(especially in nigh.tbringer) #whereas in long term he's grim in some ways and is a end justifies the means type #vs the si is the opposite in that regard (but could've been the same till they met the brothers and co) believing in love and others #and they do butt heads bc of this stuff and just bc of how their personalities clash #but they do care for each other. he believes them and is proud of them and they see him as a harbor and genuinely someone they can count on #i don't know if i can fully say it but that is exemplified by their nickname for him #sol as a shortening of his name but also a ref to the old norse word for sun aka sól

[onewithblankets]

I know a lot of old myths now we know next to nothing about bc there’s so much cultural context surrounding them that was lost to time bc why would anybody want to write down common sense? But like do you think people thousands of years into the future will not know Humpty Dumpty was an egg.

#like how much of our children’s books with pictures and stuff and internet will survive for future historians #we document so much but what happens when that’s burned down #same way Greek and Norse gods have like 20 different retellings of myths and origin stories #figures like santa claus have dozens of movies books etc retelling how they came to be and what they do #what conclusions will historians draw based on what survives #I talk sometimes #okay fine I’ll finally make a queue tag

[headspace-hotel]

I hope I can express this properly and sensitively, but I think oftentimes people need to have Categories and Identities and to be healthily exploratory and playful and elastic about them, else they can get vulnerable to some negative things, sometimes really awful things

I wish I could remember where I read it, but there was something that wrote about whiteness in America as an abyss.

Whiteness is something that sheltered white Americans' ancestors, and at the same time devoured them. They used to have a distinct medley of heritages: Irish, German, Scottish, Italian. "Whiteness" ate it up, the languages, the cultures. There were privileges if you destroyed it, and punishments if you held onto anything that was "Other." In a white supremacist society, white people wanted to be "white" first before any other possible identity or connection they could have.

Yay! You're white. You're on top. You win...what? Turns out the prize for "winning" is just that you get to perpetrate the violence of the game instead of being on the receiving end of it.

And that's the nasty twist—there is no prize. The deeply embedded vice of "Southern pride" is not just what the Confederate flag stands for, but also why they've got to cling so hard to that symbol of traitors and losers: they need to be on top of something so bad that even a pile of shit will do. My ancestors were ultimately dirt poor, loads of them ending up in prison or breaking their bodies down doing hard labor, but they were white. Their reward, and their pride, was being stepped on by the violence of poverty only, instead of also by the violence of white supremacy.

"White pride" is all about hate because white supremacy didn't give these folks anything to be proud of. It stripped away the culture and heritage their ancestors had in favor of "whiteness." All those jokes about how white people have no culture, well, it's true isn't it? This shit is how we ended up a primarily monolingual nation. And what looks like happened is that white Americans wound up just...scavenging most of their culture from those they oppressed. Food, music, all of that stuff. Our white ancestors didn't GIVE us anything that was their own to start with.

And this is something that really strikes me about the white supremacist and fascist movements nowadays: the starvation and hollowness behind them. These folks are empty inside. They were given nothing by white supremacy except a very vague sense that they deserve something, and they see people of all different cultures celebrating and flourishing in their unique heritages and identities, and they feel like...they've been cheated.

Equality is so threatening when you're in this situation because it feels like you've got less than everyone else at the end of the day. Not just because of comparison to previous privileges, but because your whole identity was "person that gets to step on everybody else" and your whole inheritance was "shit stolen from everybody else" and in a world where all is set right, you have no identity and nothing. You are nothing.

Anyway I was looking just now at a blog that seemed really white-supremacist-leaning and it was 99% about like, Norse and Proto-Indo-European paganism and "traditionalism" and that's what got me thinking about this again.

This person had apparently done DNA tests on themselves or something, and were really fixated on figuring out their Norse and Germanic ancestors and separating out their genetic and racial identity at a level of precision that seems really pointless that far back in time. And honestly all the paganism stuff seemed like totally arbitrary speculation as well.

And how to become satisfied as a person like this? I am just as much Germanic or Norse as they are, but I don't believe that distant ancestors determine who you are to such an extent that I have some sort of innate cultural tie to Vikings or Visigoths or what have you. I know what percentage Celtic or Anglo Saxon or Norse I am—zero. I learned about those things in books the exact same way I learned about all the cultures and past kingdoms of the world that I presumably don't have ancestors from.

I feel like the experience of being a baby ally and obsessing about apologizing for being white is the same kind of thing in another direction, or another outcome of the same process. Some people seem to get really twisted up for a time over how to stop being guilty about being white.

It's part of the same thing as this guy who is trying to genetically identify his ancestors from like 3,000 years ago. It's the emptiness and meaninglessness of "white" identity apart from white supremacy.

I talk about deradicalization sometimes and I've had the notion a few times that fascism appeals to people who are hollow and starving in terms of identity, and if it wasn't for the sense of emptiness and hunger, they would be less easily radicalized. But it's also a little bit awkward to talk about the deeply unsatisfying nature of white supremacy, because...well, that is pretty low on the list of things bad about white supremacy.

I think this concept is worth talking about in general, though: People want to feel like they come from or are part of something meaningful. They are drawn toward Identities and Categories and Belonging to groups. This is something I think is commonly true about humans, I think it is normal and not a bad thing, and I think we could stand to be a little more upfront about its reality.

I think this means that wanting, and seeking, a sense of cultural identity as a white person (particularly an American) needs to have some kind of non-horrible outlet for it. Because right now, it's nothing but a way to get radicalized, and the dominant other option people take (becoming the Guilty White Person) is liked by no one and helps nothing.

And maybe it doesn't need to have anything to do with race or culture or your ancestors or any of these things that can lead a person down such terrible paths. Maybe more of us should be furries!

As just another thing to consider, I'm reading the book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood and the author of the book uses the word "cracker" not like, with the gravity of reclaiming a "slur" or something like that, but seemingly because that is just the word she most strongly identifies with, the word that best articulates who "her people" are. This feels very solid and levelheaded to me, something that comes from someone with a good sense of themselves.

Personally I've thought a long time that more people should reclaim "redneck." Not in the sense of reclaiming a slur exactly, but in the sense of putting it in neutral usage among the folks it always referred to, instead of letting it increasingly be associated with any Southerner (regardless of working class background) that is the sort to wave a Confederate flag around. The very idea of gatekeeping "redneck" away from racists is just absolutely hilarious to me, I won't lie.

#random #identity #whiteness #i doubt anyone asked for an essay from a white southerner about race #but this is just what im thinking about tonight

[thehmn]

So far Jake Doubleyoo’s version of Loki is one of my favorites. The line “Wow this problem was actually super easy to fix. I wonder how I can ruin this situation for myself?” is perfect Loki.

Like most people who take an interest in Norse Mythology I went through the expected stages of Loki interpretations; He’s evil. No he’s actually good. He’s tragic. He’s actually a misunderstood hero.

But the truth is he’s just a trickster god who thinks he is too smart for his own good sometimes. He keeps doing stuff just because he thought it’d be funny or to see what would happen and well, he finds out what happens. He cuts Sif’s hair off for no reason while she’s sleeping and Thor immediately knows he was the culprit because he does shit like that all the time and when he’s told to fix it he keeps digging himself into worse trouble AFTER FIXING THE PROBLEM.

And thanks to Hollywood people think of Odin as a Zeus type but in reality Odin is a trickster god too. He and Loki have a lot in common and it makes sense that they’re blood brothers. In case you don’t know, blood brothers are men who were so close they decided to mix their blood, usually by cutting or pricking themselves and pushing the wounds together. They do a lot of the same stuff, only Odin is more focused on learning while Loki just wants to party.

I know “Loki turns evil because the gods treat him so badly” is a popular interpretation but if you actually sit down and read the texts you could just as easily interpret it as “Loki keeps fucking around and finding out and is mad that his actions have consequences” because the texts are so vague you have to do a lot of reading between the lines. Some texts even contradict each other. In one text both of Loki’s parents are jotun. In another his mother is a god. You can literally read the texts and their many translations in a million ways.

I personally like the version of Loki we get in the comic series Valhalla. In that version he is a trickster god to the bone who does stuff for shits and giggles or because he thinks he’s above the law. He’s never truly evil but he can’t be trusted either. You get a lot of funny scenes where he’s freaking out because the gods are onto him and he’s trying to talk his way out. Also, for the Aces out there, he’s implied to be asexual in this version. He does the sex sometimes but only to reach a goal.

This version is the base for a lot of Loki interpretations in Scandinavia and is worth a read.

#Loki

[traegorn]

(Not the same anon) I’m really curious in learning more about how Christianity didn’t actually steal from Pagans, and how ‘Pagan’ traditions aren’t actually Pagan, but I’m not sure how to word my question specifically. If you could point me to a resource or two that would tell me about that stuff, I’d love it! (I will be looking up the definition of syncretism as well as checking out the podcast you linked the other anon). Sorry if I worded anything incorrectly or got a concept wrong, I’m very new and wanting to learn. (Also I know I can probably find resources for myself, but I’m not sure where to even begin, which is why I asked you, sorry if I’m being a bother).

So syncretism is when cultural or religious traditions get merged into another religion, usually by customs getting carried over post conversion or colonization.

Like imagine a religion like Christianity comes into an area and mass converts people. And the people say "Oh yeah, we're Christian now -- for sure" but keep doing all of their cultural traditions. What happens over time is that those traditions get recontextualized into the new religion's framework.

It's not Christianity "stealing" them -- it's the cultures that were converted holding onto their traditions in spite of Christianity. The church wasn't deliberately trying to take them -- they just kind of got stuck with them. You get that with a bunch of Yule stuff with Norse and Germanic areas and Christmas.

So that's part of it.

The rest is that a lot of things modern folks claim are "Pagan" just... aren't? Like take the Christmas tree. Like we have clear documentation of its origin going back to German Protestants. Like we know when it started. Yet you'll see countless folks online (and badly written witchcraft books) claiming it's some ancient tradition to decorate a tree in your house. It just... isn't tho?

What you need to do is go to academic sources on these topics, and just kinda take anything in a witchcraft book with a grain of salt.

#witch #witchcraft #witchblr #pagan #neopagan

[skipper1331]

Hard to get // Guro Reiten

Guro had a massive crush on you. The moment she saw you, she knew. It was the way you smiled that made her heart race, the sound of your laugh that made her stomach flip, the kindness you shared.

The two of you went on a few dates already but nothing more than that happened. After every date Guro wouldn‘t answer your messages for at least two days. It annoyed you. She was a lovely girl and going out with her was amazing, she treated you right but her behaviour afterwards? You didn‘t like it at all. It sent mixed signals. Did she want you or not?

Unknown to you Sam Kerr and Erin Cuthbert, her Chelsea teammates, told her to act tough, hard to get. She didn‘t know why but her experience with dating someone wasn‘t the greatest so she just listened and did so. It was a strategy that should make her more interesting, more likable for you.

But you had enough. You wanted to know if it was something serious because in your eyes it was. So you made up a plan. Maybe it was unnecessary, maybe even childish but two can play a game.

Guro 💞

I‘ll pick you up at six;)

That was it. Guro always sent messages like that and it was perfect for your plan. She didn‘t respond to your previous message so you didn‘t respond to hers.

Exactly at 6 pm, your door bell rang. You made yourself pretty, dressed up. You had the perfect date outfit but just not for her. Opening the door, you saw the norse standing there with a smile "Hey, pretty lady" she grinned as she shamlessly checked you out. You tried to hide it but your cheeks were burning red. Anyways, "You have 30 seconds to apologize" you stated, looking at your watch.

"What for?"

"I‘m not stupid, darling", you smiled, secretly enjoying the way 'darling' rolled over the tip of your tongue. "I know you‘re playing hard to get" her whole face fell. "I- i… you-.. um" she was a stuttering mess "ding ding ding, 30 seconds are over" you stepped beside her and started walking towards the road where a woman was waiting at her car. The woman smiled brightly the same as you did. Guro could only watch. The winger had to watch you hug someone else all dressed up while she was standing at your door like a lost puppy.

As soon as you were out of sight (driving away with the woman) Guro texted her friends.

Guro

you shitheads.

Sam

??

Erin

?!

When Guro didn‘t reply Sam started a group call "you okay?" Erin started "aren‘t you supposed to be on a date?" Sam chipped in. "Yes but thanks to you guys she just drove away with another woman" they heard how the norse inhaled sharply "play hard to get. Don‘t reply to her" she mimicked their voices. "Wanna start from the beginning?" and that‘s what she did. She told them everything from the moment the door was opened "Damn" - "Wow"

"We need to fix this"

The next day, Guro was standing in front of your house with her hands full of flowers. She stood in front of the door for about 10 minutes before she finally rang the bell. She felt many things; excitement, tension, nervousness. "Hello?" You weren't expecting anyone when you opened the door, thinking it was the mail man. "H-hi, my pretty lady" the winger said shyly. "Can we talk?" you stepped aside, giving her the hint that she can step into your home. As she went in, she looked around. She‘s never been in your home before and was amazed. It was so much like you. "These are for you" smiling, she gave you the flowers. You nodded as a thank you. "I‘m sorry.. for being an ass" she began as you searched for a vase. "I‘ve never done something like- like us. Some friends told me to play hard to get. Not reply to your texts and that stuff." you hummed as responds. "I like you," she looked down, not meeting your eyes "and if you let me, i‘ll reply to every text from you as soon as i can. I’ll show you that i want you"

When you didn‘t answer, she had her answer. Her heart hurt as she realized she messed up being with you. "You like that woman, don‘t you?"

"I do"

Peng, ouch that hurt.

You took a step towards her, cupping her cheeks "but as a sister because she is" within a second the wingers head snapped up "that was your sister?"

"Yes" you grinned, playing with her baby hair which made her melt. "Thank God"

"I like you, too"

While her hands went around your waist she looked deeply in your eyes. You always got lost in the beauty of her orbs.

And just like that the world around stopped. It was only the two of you. Looking down at her lips you asked for consent. You wanted to kiss her since the first date but it was never the right time. Well, maybe it was - you couldn’t tell because you also were inexperienced. As an answer she pressed her lips against yours. The kiss wasn‘t rushed, it was sweet and lovely, almost innocent.

Later that evening, she sent a quick text in the group chat.

Guro

Got the girl.

—————————

#guro reiten #woso x reader #woso fanfics #chelsea wfc #woso #guro reiten x reader #sam kerr #erin cuthbert #chelsea x reader #norwnt x reader #norwnt

[thebestpartofwakingup]

If you don’t have records but can reasonably extrapolate your family remained in the same area use the year/era of the first regional government/title/tribe you know your family lived under (if you know your family lived under Ottoman rule but don’t know anything else/earlier you can say your knowledge goes back to the 1600s, etc.)

#poll #polls #history #tumblr #family history

[tyrantisterror]

Some stuff I learned at the Medieval Studies Congress today that will be of interest/use for Midgaheim:

There's a passage of Beowulf that, in the original old English, lists Grendel's kin/fellow descendents of Cain (the biblical first murderer). Two are easily translated to modern English: elves and giants (specifically "gigantes," one of the few times the poem uses a latin word rather than an Old English word, which probably specifically implies these are Biblical giants/nephilim like Goliath). The other two words are hard to parse because they have no modern English equivalent, and different translations use different words to try to give the same flavor. One is translated roughly as phantoms, undead, revenants, draugr, goblins, evil spirits, or demons, while the other is translated as trolls or ogres. However, both of those words mean something different than those equivalents - in the second term's case, it specifically means Jotunn, i.e. frost giants. And that's especially important for two reasons: 1, Grendel is referred to as being most closely related to that term, sometimes outright being called a Jotunn, and 2, Jotunn are VERY different than giants/ogres mythologically speaking, and the Beowulf poet would have known that. Troll is probably the best fit of all modern English monster words, since trolls were synonymous with Jotunns (and most other monsters) early in the history of Germanic languages, but the word Troll now means its own specific thing, so it's still not a good fit, and as the speaker surmised, it's probably best just to translate Jotunn… as Jotunn.

On a related note, the word "Ettin" is derived from Jotunn, so at some point I should make Midgaheim Ettins some sort of sister clade of ogres to Jotunns.

Beowulf says that giants were "wiped out in the flood," and because it specifically uses the Latin word "gigante," it's likely this is a reference to the death of the nephilim in Biblical apocrypha. BUT! Given how "Jotunn" is used often in the poem, it could alternatively refer to the flood of Ymir's blood in Norse mythology that ALSO wiped out a population of giants. OR! it could refer to BOTH, which would be an explicit instance of the poem trying to fit Norse myth and Christian apocrypha into one united mythos. It is possible the Beowulf poet may have been trying the same heretical bullshit I've been doing in Midgaheim.

A prominent theme in Norse myth was people who act monstrously turning into monsters as a result, and it's possibel that the word "Jotunn" may be rooted in the Germanic word for Gluttony, since early descriptions of Jotunns describe them as cannibals/maneaters whose voracious appetites are particularly destructive - a trait that they share with folkloric ogres across Europe.

Dragons, especially in Norse myth, have some psychopomp connotations, particularly with regards to the word "wyrm," which has always had an intended double meaning to include both serpents/reptiles and vermin/invertebrates. A wyrm is both viper and maggot, snake and worm, with the connective trait that unites all things under the category being its ability to inspire a primal fear. The Beowulf dragon specifically has connotations with Death and Rot, living in an ancient grave and ending the life of the near-unkillable hero of the poem. Nidhoggr also fills this role, as do his fellow root-chewer dragons who torment the particularly dishonorable dead in Norse Hel.

Gawain and Lancelot were disaster bisexuals. It is also probably arguable that most if not all of the knights of the round table are disaster bisexuals, but Gawain and Lancelot definitely are.

At least one incarnation of King Arthur kinda blatantly desired to be a throuple with Gwenevere and Lancelot, which would have solved so many problems. Like, he was aware both Lancelot and Gwenevere were more functional when they could fuck, and he loved them both dearly so come on, let them be a throuple.

There's a good argument that many, if not all versions of Mordred could have been gay.

One Gawain story has him accidentally kill a woman while getting into a fight with a knight over a dead white stag, and Gwenevere tells Gawain that from this day on he has to take a solemn vow to ALWAYS respect and protect women. Or, to sum up:

Lanval was a sub and that's why the fairy maiden asked him to visit her. Their dynamic also subverts a lot of medieval expectations of masculinity and feminity in Marie de France's version of the story, which subsequent authors tried to "fix" in later retellings - a big example is how in Marie's version, the Fairy Maiden steers the horse that rescues Lanval, while in subsequent retellings Lanval gets to steer despite the Fairy Maiden being the one who came to the rescue. Marie's version has both of them take on masculine and feminine roles, serving and protecting each other in turn, and seems to have this message that a good relationship should be an equal partnership where both sides shoulder each other's burdens while also caring for themselves. Marie de France continues to be my favorite medieval writer.

There was a lot of argument and theorizing about the nature of souls as incorporeal things that still can feel pain, with a lot of Christians arguing about what pain means to a spirit without a body, and how exactly hellfire can hurt a soul without a body. Dante kinds put the final word on it by drawing on the fact that angels and demons, who are beings of soul without corporeal forms, can create corporeal representations of themselves from air, smoke, fire, and light - damned souls are given substance, and thus pain, by Hellfire that wraps around their bodies, with one passage of inferno describing how the fire surrounding Ulysses curls at one point "almost like a tongue" to allow him to speak. The fire is also something that, depending on how you translate the poem, may be self inflicted - summoned by the sinner, or at least manifesting as result of their sins and faults, which goes with the theme of Dante's Hell where all the punishments are self inflicted/reinforced by the sinners themselves.

There's a medieval French poem about an island called Cokaygne (pronounced "Cocaine," no I'm serious I'm not shitting you it's called Cocaine) where the houses are made of crepes/pancakes, the rivers are made of sweet milk, food is plentiful, the weather is never bad, predators and disease are nonexistent, and the only people who live there are monks and nuns who spend all their time eating, resting, and engaging in kinky and satisfying sex. The poem is a satire of other stories of the time that attempted to describe Heaven, and explicitly says Cokaygne (Cocaine) is better than Heaven, because all you have to do in Heaven is look at clouds and grass, while in Cokaygne (Cocaine) you get to fuck nuns in your pancake house. To get to Cokaygne (Cocaine) you have to sit up to your neck in pigshit for seven years straight. It kinda reminded me of that hobo folk song "The Big Rock Candy Mountain."

Finally (for today), there's a Medieval story that's based on the story of the Buddha that fucks up the concept of "letting go of attachments" when trying to adapt it to fit a medieval french worldview, turning the concept from "free yourself from your desires" to "listen you shouldn't care about material wealth because the wealth you'll get in the spiritual world of Heaven will be WAY better, you get jewels and a throne and stuff it's sick dude," which proves white people have been fucking that concept up in stupid ways for centuries.

[astronicht]

Replying to a comment on this ask reply about evil in the North in LOTR (but it was too long to actually put in a comment ,)

@warrioreowynofrohan I'm so glad evil is in the north in The Silmarillion!! I have also been promised that the story of the creation of the world is also in there, since Frodo fell asleep during Tom Bombadil’s early medieval cosmology lesson. I really, really want to know what happens in Elf Creation, because Tolkien did not write a book about it academically but CLEARLY had at least a few opinions about early medieval ideas of where the world came from, which he possibly just put in Middle Earth, if he had them fleshed out enough. This makes me nuts bc CS Lewis, meanwhile, wrote a whole-ass book called The Discarded Image about his idea* of the medieval vision of the cosmos (like where is outer space, where are the planets, where’s heaven, etc, including How It All Got Made) and also per the word of a thesis supervisor back in the day who was super into this stuff, worked symbolism of the planets in the medieval cosmos into one of his fictional works.

*bc the rest is under cut: if you want a more accurate read for medieval and Renaissance cosmology, the textbook is Planets, Stars, and Orbs by Edward Grant. I would not recommend TDI for historical accuracy

Lewis brushes over early medieval ideas only briefly (early medieval anything is actually not usually included in medieval academia on a theme; it’s sort of a weird zone from ca. 600-1100 AD, and Grant doesn't cover it either). But while the book is interesting on some points, it's pretty misleading, and CS Lewis's one solid error was presenting all of medieval cosmology as a Single Idea, which it also very much was not. People did not magically stop arguing about how the world got made and what it looked like for one thousand years, and modern scholarship has looked at that. But he was reading all the same texts as Tolkien, and this weird oversight that has bothered me for years, and for YEARS i have been wondering if Tolkien thought something else. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t! WHY did he put the seven stars (the five visible planets plus the sun and moon) on Aragorn’s sword PLUS the sun and moon, throwing off the count entirely?? Maybe he did not actually give a shit). I look forward to finding out, and probably suffering for it.

RE: Gollum! Your actual question! Honestly at the moment (aka at the end of Fellowship), Gollum seems like such a thoroughly Grendel figure that I almost get worried I’m being lured into a 1:1 comparison, when Tolkien seems to enjoy making a bunch of different references within each character. Strider is King Arthur, Strider is that guy in that saga nicknamed Strider, Strider is another guy with a sword situation in another saga(??) (I have not read enough Norse sagas). Gollum, though, is associated with the underground and with water; he has his dark low pool; Grendel lives in a low dark pool (with his mum). Even being cast out by a matriarch maaaaybe suggests something of Grendel’s Mother, who is just as much a main character, or perhaps more so; she’s the final boss of the Grendel bit of Beowulf, after all. So in conclusion: yeah I see your point! I'd be curious to figure out what else is being folded in. However, assuming the Grendel similarities are on purpose, congrats to Tolkien for the only good Beowulf adaptation ever.

#astro lotr #i was trying to find the passage i was referencing in cs lewis but im sorry i read that in 2019 in a pizza parlor and i am late for work #always think critically of your sources especially if they are me!! etc etc